1. Technical Field
Fluids of enhanced thermal conductivity are prepared by dispersing carbon nanomaterials of a selected thermal conductivity into the fluid serving as the liquid medium. Dispersion is achieved by physical and chemical treatments. Methods are described and fluid compositions are identified which exhibit enhanced thermal conductivity due to the dispersion of carbon nanomaterials in aqueous and/or petroleum liquid medium utilizing selected dispersants and mixing methods to form stable carbon nanomaterial dispersions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Lubricants and coolants of various types are used in equipment and in manufacturing processes to remove waste heat, among other functions. Traditionally, water is most preferred for heat removal, however, to expand its working range, freeze depressants such as ethylene glycol and/or propylene glycol are sometimes added, typically at levels above 10% concentration by volume, for example, automotive coolant is typically a mixture of 50-70% ethylene glycol, the remainder water. The thermal conductivity of the freeze depressed fluid is then about ⅔ as good as water alone. In many processes and applications, water can not be used for various reasons, and then a type of oil, e.g. mineral oil, polyalpha olefin oil, ester synthetic oil, ethylene oxide/propylene oxide synthetic oil, polyalkylene glycol synthetic oil, etc. are used. The thermal conductivity of these oils, is typically 0.1 to 0.17 W/m-K at room temperature, and thus they are inferior to water, with comparable thermal conductivity of 0.61 W/m-K, as heat transfer agents. Usually these oils have many other important functions, and they are carefully formulated to perform to exacting specifications for example for friction, wear performance, low temperature performance, etc. Often designers will desire a fluid with higher thermal conductivity than the conventional oil, but are restricted to oil due to the many other parameters the fluid must meet.
The use of graphite solids in fluids such as lubricants is well known. The graphite is added as a friction reducing agent, which also carries some of the load imposed on the working fluid, and therefore helps to reduce surface damage to working parts; however, the thermal conductivity property of the graphite is not an important consideration in conventional applications. While there have been various patents filed on lubricants containing graphite, e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 6,169,059, there are none which specifically rely on graphite to improve the thermal conductivity of the fluid.
While graphite-containing automotive engine oil was once commercialized (ARCO graphite), the potential to use graphite as a heat transfer improving material in this oil was not realized. The particle size of graphite used was larger (on the order of one to several microns) than for the instant invention. As a result, the graphite incorporated in the aforementioned automotive engine oil had strong settling tendency in the fluid. Graphite of this size also significantly effected the friction and wear properties of the fluid, and heretofore has been used to reduce friction and improve wear performance of the fluid, e.g. in metalworking fluids. The use of graphite in lubricants for recirculating systems was made unpopular, partly due to the publication by NASA that graphite could pile up in restricted flow areas in concentrated contacts, thereby leading to lubricant starvation. No recognition on the effect of graphite particle size on this phenomena was ever established. Furthermore, none of the prior art references teach the use of utilizing nano-sized graphite particles with mean particle size less than 500 nm to enhance thermal conductivity in fluids.
Carbon nanotubes are a new form of the nanomaterial formed by elemental carbon, which possesses different properties than the other forms of the carbon materials. It has unique atomic structure, very high aspect ratio, and extraordinary mechanical properties (strength and flexibility), making them ideal reinforcing fibers in composites and other structural materials.
Carbon nanotubes are characterized as generally to rigid porous carbon three dimensional structures comprising carbon nanofibers and having high surface area and porosity, low bulk density, low amount of micropores and increased crush strength and to methods of preparing and using such structures. The instant process is applicable to nanotubes with or without amorphous carbon.
The term “nanofiber” refers to elongated structures having a cross section (e.g., angular fibers having edges) or diameter (e.g., rounded) less than 1 micron. The structure may be either hollow or solid. Accordingly, the term includes “bucky tubes” and “nanotubes”. The term nanofibers also refers to various fibers, particularly carbon fibers, having very small diameters including fibrils, whiskers, nanotubes, buckytubes, etc. Such structures provide significant surface area when incorporated into a structure because of their size and shape. Moreover, such fibers can be made with high purity and uniformity. Preferably, the nanofiber used in the present invention has a diameter less than 1 micron, preferably less than about 0.5 micron, and even more preferably less than 0.1 micron and most preferably less than 0.05 micron. Carbon nanotubes are typically hollow graphite tubules having a diameter of generally several to several tens nanometers which exist in many forms either as discrete fibers or aggregate particles of nanofibers
The term “internal structure” refers to the internal structure of an assemblage including the relative orientation of the fibers, the diversity of and overall average of fiber orientations, the proximity of the fibers to one another, the void space or pores created by the interstices and spaces between the fibers and size, shape, number and orientation of the flow channels or paths formed by the connection of the void spaces and/or pores. The structure may also include characteristics relating to the size, spacing and orientation of aggregate particles that form the assemblage. The term “relative orientation” refers to the orientation of an individual fiber or aggregate with respect to the others (i.e., aligned versus non-aligned). The “diversity of” and “overall average” of fiber or aggregate orientations refers to the range of fiber orientations within the structure (alignment and orientation with respect to the external surface of the structure).
Carbon fibrils can be used to form a rigid assemblage or be made having diameters in the range of 3.5 to 70 nanometers. The fibrils, buckytubes, nanotubes and whiskers that are referred to in this application are distinguishable from continuous carbon fibers commercially available as reinforcement materials. In contrast to nanofibers, which have desirably large, but unavoidably finite aspect ratios, continuous carbon fibers have aspect ratios (L/D) of at least 104 and often 106 or more. The diameter of continuous fibers is also far larger than that of fibrils, being always >1.0 microns and typically 5 to 7 microns. Continuous carbon fibers are made by the pyrolysis of organic precursor fibers, usually rayon, polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and pitch. Thus, they may include heteroatoms within their structure. The graphitic nature of “as made” continuous carbon fibers varies, but they may be subjected to a subsequent graphitization step. Differences in degree of graphitization, orientation and crystallinity of graphite planes, if they are present, the potential presence of heteroatoms and even the absolute difference in substrate diameter make experience with continuous fibers poor predictors of nanofiber chemistry. Carbon nanofibrils are vermicular carbon deposits having diameters less than 1.0 micron, preferably less than 0.5 micron, even more preferably less than 0.2 micron and most preferably less than 0.05 micron. They exist in a variety of forms and have been prepared through the catalytic decomposition of various carbon-containing gases at metal surfaces.
Carbon nanotubes are typically hollow graphite tubules having a diameter of generally several to several tens nanometers. Carbon nanotubes exist in many forms. The nanofibers can be in the form of discrete fibers or aggregate particles of nanofibers. The former results in a structure having fairly uniform properties. The latter results in a structure having two-tiered architecture comprising an overall macrostructure comprising aggregate particles of nanofibers bonded together to form the porous mass and a microstructure of intertwined nanofibers within the individual aggregate particles. For instance, one form of carbon fibrils are characterized by a substantially constant diameter, length greater than about 5 times the diameter, an ordered outer region of catalytically grown, multiple, substantially continuous layers of ordered carbon atoms having an outside diameter between about 3.5 and 70 nanometers, and a distinct inner core region. Each of the layers and the core are disposed substantially concentrically about the cylindrical axis of the fibril. The fibrils are substantially free of pyrolytically deposited thermal carbon with the diameter of the fibrils being equal to the outside diameter of the ordered outer region.
Moreover, a carbon fibril suitable for use with the instant process defines a cylindrical carbon fibril characterized by a substantially constant diameter between 3.5 and about 70 nanometers, a length greater than about 5 times the diameter, an outer region of multiple layers of ordered carbon atoms and a distinct inner core region, each of the layers and the core being disposed concentrically about the cylindrical axis of the fibril. Preferably the entire fibril is substantially free of thermal carbon overcoat. The term “cylindrical” is used herein in the broad geometrical sense, i.e., the surface traced by a straight line moving parallel to a fixed straight line and intersecting a curve. A circle or an ellipse are but two of the many possible curves of the cylinder. The inner core region of the fibril may be hollow, or may comprise carbon atoms which are less ordered than the ordered carbon atoms of the outer region. “Ordered carbon atoms,” as the phrase is used herein means graphitic domains having their c-axes substantially perpendicular to the cylindrical axis of the fibril. In one embodiment, the length of the fibril is greater than about 20 times the diameter of the fibril. In another embodiment, the fibril diameter is between about 7 and about 25 nanometers. In another embodiment the inner core region has a diameter greater than about 2 nanometers.
Dispersing the nanotubes into organic and aqueous medium has been a serious challenge. The nanotubes tend to aggregate, form agglomerates, and separate from the dispersion.
Some industrial applications require a method of preparing a stable dispersion of a selected carbon nanomaterials in a liquid medium. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,523,006 by Strumban teaches the user of a surfactant and an oil medium; however, the particles are Cu—Ni—Sn—Zn alloy particles with the size from 0.01 μm and the suspension is stable for a limited period of time of approximately 30 days. Moreover, the surfactants do not include the dispersants typically utilized in the lubricant industry.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,898 by Uchida et al. teaches that a liquid medium is an aqueous medium containing a surfactant; however, the stability of the suspension is of little consequence in that the liquid is centrifuged upon suspension.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,853,877 by Shibuta teaches dispersing disentangled nanotubes in a polar solvent and forming a coating composition with additives such as dispersing agents; however, a method of obtaining a stable dispersion is not taught.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,099,965 by Tennent et al. utilizes a kneader for mixing a dispersant with other reactants in a liquid medium, yet sustaining the stability of the dispersion is not taught.
The potential of carbon nanotubes to convey thermal conductivity in a material is mentioned in U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,909; however, actual measurement of the thermal conductivity of the carbon fibrils they produced was not given in the patent, so the inference of thermal conductivity is general and somewhat speculative, based on graphitic structure. Bulk graphite with high thermal conductivity is available from POCO GRAPHITE as a graphite foam having a thermal conductivity of greater than 100 W/m-K, and from Carbide having a high thermal conductivity as well. These bulk materials must be reduced to a powder of nanometer size by various methods for use in the instant invention.